Micheal Baca casts his vote for vice president on his pen box after he was replaced by Celeste Landry of Boulder (on right) as a Colorado member of the Electoral College at the State Capitol on Dec. 19, 2016 in Denver.

Joe Amon, The Denver Post

Chief Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court the Honorable Nancy E. Rice swears in Celeste Landry of Boulder after Micheal Baca cast his vote for Republican John Kasich and was immediately replaced by Landry as a Colorado member of the Electoral College at the State Capitol. December 19, 2016 Denver, CO.

Joe Amon, The Denver Post

Elector Micheal Baca still protesting his eminent removal watches as his lawyer steps forward to speak before he is replaced as a Colorado member of the Electoral College at the Colorado State Capitol before being called in to vote. December 19, 2016 Denver, CO.

Joe Amon, The Denver Post

Elector Micheal Baca, hugs elector Polly Baca, a former Colorado State Senator and the first Hispanic woman elected to the Colorado State Senate (they are not related) as Colorado members of the Electoral College wait for word if they will be sworn in at the Colorado State Capitol before being called in to vote. December 19, 2016 Denver, CO.

Alisa Wood rushes forward shouting "Thank you! Thank you for making a stand!" to Micheal Baca as he and the rest of the Colorado members of the Electoral College are dismissed after voting for the president and vice president at the Colorado State Capitol. December 19, 2016 Denver, CO.

Joe Amon, The Denver Post

Micheal Baca watches Colorado members of the Electoral College sign their Certificate of Vote after he was replaced by Celeste Landry at the Colorado State Capitol. December 19, 2016 Denver, CO.

The trio contended that Williams acted unlawfully by not allowing them to vote their conscience instead of on behalf of Colorado voters when casting their presidential votes.

But U.S. District Court Senior Judge Wiley Y. Daniel rejected that premise, saying they were requesting he “strike down Colorado’s elector statute that codifies the historical understanding and long-standing practice of binding electors to the people’s vote, and to sanction a new system that would render the people’s vote merely advisory.”

In his 27-page ruling, Daniel added: “I reject this invitation, finding not only that plaintiffs lack standing but that their claims fail to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.”

The lawsuit stemmed from Democratic elector Micheal Baca’s decision to vote for Ohio Gov. John Kasich instead of Hillary Clinton during the Electoral College process in December 2016. He was removed as an elector by Williams as a result, a decision that put Colorado in the center of the debate about the Electoral College following Donald Trump’s victory. That’s when Baca and other Democratic electors tried to deny Trump the votes he needed to take control of the White House.

Democratic electors Baca, Polly Baca (unrelated to Micheal) and Robert Nemanich were plaintiffs in the lawsuit, filed in August. They were backed and represented by Equal Citizens, an advocacy group founded by Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig.

Polly Baca and Nemanich voted for Clinton, as the law requires. (Clinton won Colorado, with 48 percent of the vote to Trump’s 43 percent.)

“According to the binding court decisions, faithless electors can be removed, which preserves the votes of the nearly 3 million Coloradans who cast their ballots in the November election,” Williams said in an earlier written statement. “The only thing I asked the electors to do was follow the law.”

Jason Harrow, the chief counsel for Equal Citizens, suggested the group was looking toward challenging the ruling.

“We disagree strongly with Judge Daniels’ opinion, which ignores both binding precedent and the compelling evidence that the Framers of the Constitution intended presidential electors to be able to exercise independent judgment in casting their votes for President of the United States,” he said in a statement. “But this decision is only the first word in our case, not the last, and it’s the last that ultimately matters. On to the Court of Appeals.”

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